Family, friends bid farewell to Marine

Friends, family and fellow Marines described Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan of San Clemente as "always smiling, always laughing." And it must have been so because a photo collage showed a beaming child in the back seat of a classic car, eating a chocolate ice cream cone and wearing a USA sweatshirt.

Yet the portrait of Hogan displayed everywhere at his memorial service Monday was of an unsmiling Marine in dress uniform, seemingly aware of the seriousness of his job.

Hogan, 20, was killed in a roadside bomb explosion Aug. 26 in southern Afghanistan. About 300 people filled St. George's Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills for the memorial service. A private funeral was held earlier in the day.

Major Gen. Richard P. Mills, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, presented Hogan's Purple Heart to his parents, Carla and Jim Hogan, while more than a dozen Marines of all ages stood around the sanctuary.

"Our young Marines are so outstanding," Mills said after the service. "To see how his death affects his family and the whole community is heart wrenching. But he died a hero."

Jim Hogan thanked those in attendance for gathering to honor his son. "We Irish love a good story...tell a story about my son to someone who didn't know him so his memory can live on," he encouraged.

Donald Hogan's grandfather had been a career Marine, a veteran of three wars, who continually gave his grandson copies of Leatherneck magazine, the official Marine publication, said Col. Willard Buhl.

Peter Chance, who had been Donald's economics teacher at Tesoro High School before his 2007 graduation, said, "He was always happy-go-lucky, always had a smile on his face. There was never a challenge he was afraid of."

The Hogans have requested that friends make donations to the LCPL Donald J. Hogan Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 73122, San Clemente, CA. 92673-0104. The money will provide scholarships for children of military members who have died in service to the United States, Jim Hogan said.